Movements of lactate and pyruvate in pregnant uterus

¹ Department of Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine; Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts; and Department of Physiology, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut

Anesthetized goats were studied at various stages of pregnancy. Lactate and pyruvate concentrations were determined in maternal blood (artery and uterine vein) and in fetal blood (umbilical artery and vein) A great variety of concentrations was found at all sites, and no systematic effect of gestational age was noted. There were also no systematic effects of absolute concentrations on arteriovenous (A-V) differences or on absolute rates of exchange of lactate and pyruvate between pregnant uterus and maternal blood (A-V x uterine blood flow). There was no systematic effect of the concentrations in either mother or fetus on those of the other. The direction of exchanges on the two sides of the placenta (i.e., between placenta and mother or between placenta and fetus) were not necessarily consistent. It was concluded that passive movement of either substance between the two blood streams was improbable and, furthermore, that the difference between the two levels could not be taken to represent the concentration gradient along which transfer occurred. The concentration and the metabolic activity in the placenta appeared to be unknown factors essential to an understanding of the heterogeneous values observed.

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